Bottle for dispensing a fluid product equipped with a filling valve

ABSTRACT

A bottle for dispensing a fluid product including a body with a filling valve having a jet with an internal channel extending between an upstream orifice emerging on an external wall of the jet and a downstream orifice, the jet mounted in translation in a ring having an internal length delimiting an opening for introduction of the outlet tube, the external wall in the closure position being in abutment on the internal length while disposing in the opening a central length in which the upstream orifice emerges, the valve also including an external seal interposed between the external wall and the internal length, the seal having a hole opposite the upstream orifice and an actuation area in the opening opposite the central length, the actuation area being arranged to allow filling by putting the outlet tube in sealed abutment on it to move the jet into the communication position.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority of French patent application No. 11 53144 filed on Apr. 11, 2011, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns a bottle for dispensing a fluid product, in particular liquid, for example a cosmetic care, makeup or perfume product, or a pharmaceutical product.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The dispensing bottle comprises a body in which a reservoir for packaging the product is formed, as well as a device for taking of the packaged product that is mounted sealingly on said body. In particular, the taking of device may comprise a manually actuated pump that is supplied with packaged product, said pump being arranged to dispense the product under pressure, for example in the form of an aerosol.

In an example application, the bottles according to the invention make it possible to dispense product samples, in particular with a volume of product packaged in the reservoir that is between 1 and 10 ml. In particular, the samples thus dispensed may enable a customer to test the product, the bottles then being referred to as sample-test bottles. In a variant, the bottles may be so-called “handbag” bottles in that they make it possible to transport easily a small volume of product, unlike bottles with a greater capacity that are in general heavy and bulky since they are lavish.

In these applications, for example for logistic, practicality or environmental recycling reasons, it may be desirable to be able to recharge the reservoir with product from a source of said product. Indeed, it is not very practical for a user to fill the reservoir by means of a small funnel and not very ecological to throw away an empty bottle in order to replace it with a full one constituting a recharge.

Dispensing bottles are already offered for sale, in which the body is equipped with a valve for filling the reservoir that is arranged so as to enable a source of product to be put in communication with said reservoir. In particular, the valve can be opened by pressing on the outlet tube of the pump of a source bottle, which it is necessary to actuate several times to fill the reservoir by injecting the source product.

The emptying of a reservoir by means of a dispensing pump without taking in air so as to create a negative pressure in said reservoir, said negative pressure allowing the filling of said reservoir by sucking in the source product, is also known, in particular from the document FR-2 854 131.

However, the valves according to the prior art do not guarantee satisfactory filling of the reservoir, in particular in relation to the seal between the outlet tube of the source bottle and the valve, this problem being even more detrimental when the filling must be carried out by aspiration of the source product.

In addition, the valves according to the prior art are not compatible with the various configurations of commercially available outlet tubes, which limits the possibilities of filling for a dispensing bottle equipped with such a valve.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention aims to improve the prior art by proposing in particular a dispensing bottle equipped with a filling valve the reliability of which is improved, in particular in relation to the sealing thereof with the outlet tube during filling, and this with an extended range of configuration of source bottle outlet tubes.

To this end, the invention proposes a bottle for dispensing a fluid product comprising a body in which a reservoir intended for packaging said product is formed, said bottle also comprising a device for taking of said packaged product that is mounted sealingly on said body, said body also being equipped with a valve for filling said reservoir that is arranged to enable an outlet tube of a source product to be put in communication with said reservoir, the valve having a jet provided with an internal channel that extends between an upstream orifice emerging on an external wall of said jet and a downstream orifice, said jet being mounted in translation in a ring secured to the body between a stable position of closing the downstream orifice and a stressed position of putting the internal channel in sealed communication with the packaging reservoir, the ring having an internal length delimiting an opening for introduction of the outlet tube, the external wall of the jet in the closure position being in abutment on said internal length while disposing in said opening a central length in which the upstream orifice emerges, said valve also comprising an external seal that is interposed between said external wall and said internal length, said seal having a hole disposed opposite the upstream orifice and an actuation area disposed in the opening opposite the central length, said actuation area being arranged so as to allow filling by putting the outlet tube in sealed abutment on it in order to move the jet into the communication position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other subjects and advantages of the invention will emerge in the following description given with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in longitudinal section of a dispensing bottle according to one embodiment of the invention, the filling valve being in the stable closure position;

FIG. 2 is a partial view in longitudinal section showing the filling valve of FIG. 1 in the stressed position of putting in communication by abutment of a jet of a pump of a source product bottle;

FIG. 3 shows a an enlargement of the area III of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 shows partially in perspective the lid of the dispensing bottle body according to FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the description, the terms relating to positioning in space are taken with reference to the position of the bottle shown in FIG. 1.

In relation to the figures, a description is given below of a bottle intended to contain a fluid product with a view to dispensing thereof. In particular examples, the product may be liquid, in particular a care, makeup or perfume cosmetic product, or a pharmaceutical product.

The bottle comprises a body 1 in which a reservoir 2 intended for packaging the product is formed. According to a particular application, the reservoir 2 may have a capacity of between 1 and 10 ml so as to enable product samples to be dispensed.

In the embodiment shown, the body 1 is rigid, in particular having sufficient rigidity for the volume of the reservoir 2 to remain substantially constant, said body being intended to be inserted in a covering (not shown). In a variant that is not shown, the body 1 may be flexible, in particular deformable when the product is dispensed.

The bottle also comprises a device 3 for taking of the packaged product that is mounted sealingly on the body 1, in particular in the top opening of said body. In the embodiment shown, the taking of device comprises a dispensing pump 3 (not shown in cross section in FIGS. 1 and 2), said pump being actuated manually by means of a push button 4 that is supplied with the product under pressure with a view to dispensing thereof.

The pump 3 comprises a body having a bottom part that is provided with a supply orifice in which a plunger tube 5 is fixed for supplying said pump with packaged product. According to a known embodiment, the button 4 is mounted on the top end of a jet 6 in order to actuate it in reversible translation over a dispensing travel, a piston being mounted on the bottom part of said jet between a closure state and a state of supplying the orifices of said jet.

The push button 4 is equipped with an atomisation nozzle 7 that is arranged so as to dispense radially an aerosol of the product. However, the invention is not limited to a particular method of dispensing the product. In particular, especially for a nasal atomisation nozzle, the push button 4 may allow axial dispensing of the product and another type of taking of device 3 can be envisaged.

In the embodiment shown, the body 1 has a tubular base 1 a with which a cover 1 b is associated, the taking of device 3 being fixed to said cover. More precisely, the cover 1 b comprises a neck 8 around which a sleeve 9 is fixed by means of a hoop 10, the pump 3 being fixed in said sleeve. The tubular base 1 a and the cover 1 b can be produced by pressure injection of rigid material, for example a translucent or transparent polypropylene material such as metallocene.

Moreover, the tubular base 1 a and the cover 1 b each have an annular wall 11, 12, said walls being associated by welding, in particular by rotary friction, the industrial cost of which is low, the implementation of which is easy and the reliability of sealing of which is good. In relation to FIG. 3, the weld profiles comprise centring diameters 13 as well as areas 14 of interference by fusion. Moreover, FIG. 4 shows the notch 15 for driving in rotation that is formed on the neck 8 of the cover 1 b.

In a variant that is not shown, the body 1 may be in a single piece, for example produced by injection blow moulding or extrusion blow moulding. It may also be produced from another plastics material, metal, for example aluminium, or glass.

The body 1 of the bottle is equipped with a valve 16 for filling the reservoir 2 that is arranged so as to enable an outlet tube of a product source 17 to be put in communication with said reservoir. The product source 17 may comprise a source reservoir on which an outlet tube is disposed, the filling of the reservoir 2 with product being achieved by mounting said tube in sealed abutment on the valve 16, which is arranged so as to open reversibly.

In particular, it is possible to use as a product source 17 a service bottle with a larger capacity, said bottle being equipped with a pump the push button of which is withdrawn to enable the jet to be placed in sealed abutment on the valve 16. This is because, apart from the opening of the valve 16, the sealed abutment causes the pump to open to enable filling product to pass through it. In FIG. 2, the service bottle 17 has the same pump 3 as that equipping the dispensing bottle.

According to another embodiment, the source reservoir is formed inside a flexible pouch equipped with an outlet tube, said pouch being able to be filled with product without air or gas so that said product is well preserved. The transfer of the product into the reservoir 2 is then possible in all positions and the flexible pouch cannot be diverted from its source role since it is without a propellant gas or internal pressure or push button for actuating any pump associated with the outlet tube.

The taking of device 3 may be of the type without takeup of air in the reservoir 2 in compensation for the volume of product dispensed. In particular, the pump 3 may be devoid of any vent hole or comprise a vent hole that is closed off or disposed so as not to fulfil the air-takeup function.

The product taken of without takeup of air in the reservoir 2 makes it possible to create a negative pressure in said reservoir that increases along with dispensing, said negative pressure making it possible to achieve the filling of said reservoir by aspiration of the source product.

In particular, in order to ensure total emptying of the reservoir 2, the air space above the product during the initial filling must be such that the negative pressure reached at the end of emptying is at a maximum equal to the negative pressure that can be achieved by the pump 3. Advantageously, provision can be made for the ratio C₀/C₁ to be between 100/40 and 100/80, C₀ being the maximum capacity of the reservoir 2 and C₁ the volume of product packaged in said reservoir, in particular a ratio of around 0.5 is advantageous, for example with C₀=15 ml and C₁=7.5 ml.

In a variant, the taking of without takeup of air can be achieved in an elastically deformable reservoir 2, the filling then being achieved by aspiration of the source product under the effect of the elastic return of said reservoir to its initial shape.

According to another embodiment, the reservoir 2 can have an initial negative air pressure that is used for achieving the first filling of said reservoir with product, the taking of device 3 then being able to be of the type without takeup of air to allow subsequent fillings or with takeup of air to limit the use of the bottle to a single filling.

According to another embodiment, the taking of device 3 may be of the type with takeup of air, the filling then being achieved by injection of the source product into the reservoir 2, in particular by actuating a pump or valve of a source product 17 by putting the outlet tube thereof in abutment on the filling valve 16.

The valve 16 has a jet 18 provided with an internal channel 19 that extends between an upstream orifice 19 a emerging on an external wall 20 of said jet and a downstream orifice 19 b. The jet 18 can be produced from rigid material such as a polyoxymethylene (POM) or a polypropylene in the range of thermoplastic materials.

The jet 18 is mounted in translation in a ring 21 secured to the body 1 between a stable position of closing the downstream orifice 19 b and a stressed position of putting the internal channel 19 in sealed communication with the packaging reservoir 2. In the embodiment shown, the filling valve 16 is disposed on the bottom of the body 1 so as in particular to fill the reservoir 2 through said bottom, which corresponds to an intuitive action.

The body 1 has a bottom cage 22 in which the ring 21 is fixed sealingly, in particular by force-fitting. The bottom of the body 1 has an opening 23 for communication with the reservoir 2 that is formed so as to emerge in the cage 22. The jet 18 has a downstream end 18 a provided with at least one downstream orifice 19 b, said end being mounted slidably in the opening 23 so that the downstream orifice 19 b can be moved between a closed-off stable position and a stressed position in communication with said opening.

In the embodiment shown, the internal channel 19 is blind on the downstream end 18 a, which comprises two downstream channels 19 b that extend radially on either side of said internal channel, the valve 16 comprising an internal seal 24 affording sealed closure of the downstream orifices 19 b in the closed-off position.

The internal seal 24 is disposed in the cage 22 against the bottom of the body 1, said seal having a hole 24 a disposed coaxially with the opening 23 and the internal channel 19, the downstream end 18 a being mounted slidably in said hole. Thus, in the stable position (FIG. 1), the downstream orifices 19 b are disposed in the hole 24 a so as to be closed off sealingly by the internal seal 24 and, in the stressed position (FIG. 2), said orifices are disposed above said hole so as to be in communication with the opening 23.

The ring 21 has an annular external wall 25 that is fitted in the cage 22, said wall having an internal edge that is in sealed abutment on the internal seal 24 and an external edge having an internal length 26 that delimits an opening 27 for introduction of the outlet tube. In particular, the length 26 extends radially inwards with respect to the axis of the internal channel 19.

In the embodiment shown, the jet 18 has an annular shoulder 28 on which the external wall 20 is formed, a spring 29 for return of the jet 18 to the stable position being interposed between an internal length of said shoulder and the internal seal 24. Moreover, the shoulder 28 is mounted in the ring 21 by forming a peripheral clearance 30 with the annular wall 25 of said ring.

In particular, the spring 29 enables the external length 20 to be put in abutment on the internal length 26 in order to define the closure position. In this position, a central length 31 of the external wall 20 is disposed in the opening 27, the upstream orifice 19 a emerging in said central length.

To make the sealed abutment of the outlet tube of the product source 17 on the jet 18 more reliable during filling and therefore prevent leakages during said filling, the valve 16 also comprises an external seal 32 that is interposed between the external wall 20 and the internal length 26. The internal 24 and external 32 seals can be produced from a flexible resilient material, for example of the elastomer type.

The external seal 32 has a hole 33 disposed opposite the upstream orifice 19 a and an actuation area 34 disposed in the opening 27 opposite the central length 31, said actuation area being arranged to allow filling by sealed abutment of the outlet tube on it in order to move the jet 18 into the communication position.

According to the embodiment shown, the opening 27 is delimited by an edge, said edge forming a chamfer having an outside diameter that is less than the inside diameter thereof. The chamfer facilitates the introduction of the outlet tube in the opening 27 as well as the withdrawal thereof, in particular when the end of said tube has a hook 35 for holding the push button 4.

Moreover, the opening 27 has an outside diameter that is greater than the diameter of the hole 33 of the external seal 32 so that the actuation area 34 is disposed around said hole. In particular, the external seal 32 has an annular geometry with flat surfaces to promote the sealed abutment with respectively the outlet tube and the external wall 20, said geometry having the hole 33 at the centre thereof.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the opening 27 has an outside diameter that is between 3.8 mm and 4.2 mm, in particular around 4.05 mm with an inside diameter of around 4.5 mm, so that the majority of the commercially available output tubes can be introduced into the opening 27. In addition, the thickness of the internal length 26 can be around 0.6 mm. Moreover, the outside diameter of the cage 22 can be around 10.5 mm to allow filling with source bottles equipped with a trim that clads the taking of device thereof.

The difference between the outside diameter of the opening 27 and the diameter of the hole 33 can be between 2.4 mm and 2.8 mm in order to ensure that, even in the case of misalignment between the outlet tube and jet 18, said tube is in communication with the internal channel 19, and this for a majority of dimensions of commercially available outlet tubes.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the hole 33 of the external seal 32 has a diameter that is between 1.3 mm and 1.5 mm, in particular around 1.4 mm, the upstream orifice 19 a having a diameter that may be slightly greater than that of the hole 33 in order to achieve a seal by radial clamping.

Moreover, the external seal 32 has an external edge 36 that is disposed in rubbing sealed contact on the annular wall 25 of the ring 21, the peripheral clearance 30 between the shoulder 28 and said wall being arranged so as to allow a movement of said edge with respect to said wall in order to break the seal of the rubbing contact.

In the embodiment shown, the outside diameter of the edge 36 is substantially equal to the inside diameter of the annular wall 25 so that the external seal 32 is centred in the ring 21. In addition, the outside diameter of the edge 36 is greater than that of the shoulder 28 so that said edge is placed in the clearance 30, said edge then not being in abutment on the external wall 20 so as to allow movement. In particular, the breaking of the seal allows, during the filling operation, to discharge any overpressure between the jet 18 and the ring 21. 

1. A bottle for dispensing a fluid product comprising a body in which a reservoir intended for packaging said product is formed, said bottle also comprising a device for taking of said packaged product that is mounted sealingly on said body, said body also being equipped with a valve for filling said reservoir that is arranged to enable an outlet tube of a source product to be put in communication with said reservoir, said bottle being characterised in that the valve has a jet provided with an internal channel that extends between an upstream orifice emerging on an external wall of said jet and a downstream orifice, said jet being mounted in translation in a ring secured to the body between a stable position of closing the downstream orifice and a stressed position of putting the internal channel in sealed communication with the packaging reservoir, the ring having an internal length delimiting an opening for introduction of the outlet tube, the external wall of the jet in the closure position being in abutment on said internal length while disposing in said opening a central length in which the upstream orifice emerges, said valve also comprising an external seal that is interposed between said external wall and said internal length, said seal having a hole disposed opposite the upstream orifice and an actuation area disposed in the opening opposite the central length, said actuation area being arranged so as to allow filling by putting the outlet tube in sealed abutment on it in order to move the jet into the communication position.
 2. The bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the opening has an outside diameter that is greater than the diameter of the hole of the external seal.
 3. The bottle according to claim 2, characterised in that the difference between the outside diameter of the opening and the diameter of the hole is between 2.4 mm and 2.8 mm.
 4. The bottle according to claim 2, characterised in that the opening has an outside diameter that is between 3.8 mm and 4.2 mm.
 5. The bottle according to claim 2, characterised in that the opening is delimited by an edge, said edge forming a chamfer having an outside diameter that is less than the inside diameter thereof.
 6. The bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the hole of the external seal has a diameter that is between 1.3 mm and 1.5 mm.
 7. The bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the external seal has an annular geometry with flat surfaces.
 8. The bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the jet has a shoulder on which the external wall is formed, said shoulder being mounted in the ring while forming a peripheral clearance with a wall of said ring, the external seal having an external edge that is disposed in rubbing sealed contact on said wall, said clearance being arranged so as to allow movement of said edge with respect to said wall in order to break the seal of the rubbing contact.
 9. The bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the body has an opening in which the downstream end of the jet is slidably mounted, said end being provided with at least one downstream orifice that is movable between a closed-off stable position and a stressed position in communication with the opening.
 10. The bottle according to claim 9, characterised in that the valve has an internal seal affording sealed closure of the downstream orifice in the closed-off position.
 11. The bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the body has a bottom cage in which the ring is sealingly fixed.
 12. The bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the body has a tubular base with which a cover is associated, the taking of device being fixed to said cover.
 13. The bottle according to claim 12, characterised in that the tubular base and the cover each have an annular wall, said walls being associated by welding.
 14. The bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the taking of device is of the type without takeup of air in the packaging reservoir in compensation for the volume of product dispensed.
 15. The dispensing bottle according to claim 1, characterised in that the reservoir has a maximum capacity C₀, the volume C₁ of product packaged in said reservoir being such that the ratio C₀/C₁ is between 100/40 and 100/80.
 16. The bottle according to claim 13, wherein said walls are associated by rotary friction welding. 